Waltham High Pop Warner football program facing field of uncertainty

Thursday

Aug 28, 2014 at 12:05 PMAug 28, 2014 at 12:06 PM

By Scott Souzassouza@wickedlocal.com

WALTHAM – Waltham Pop Warner Football ‘A’ Division coach Ryan Scanlon spent his time on Tuesday preparing for that night’s practice in an unorthodox way more than two weeks into summer practice.Instead of writing up workout plans, or diagramming plays, Scanlon was on a recruiting trip. He spent two hours up around the Prospect Hill Housing Development knocking on doors and looking for interested players.With league numbers continuing to plummet, he didn’t have much of a choice.When Waltham Pop Warner director Dick Scanlon – Ryan’s father – sounded the low-signup alarm this spring it may have fallen on deaf ears for some in the city who have listened to his worries about the future of the league in past years only to have the program bounce back strong once practice began in August.But there was no crying ‘wolf’ from the Devil Dogs leader this time as he was forced to eliminate the lone remaining Mighty Mite team when only eight players showed up at the start of workouts. Before Tuesday night’s practice, he was fretting a parents’ meeting he had called for later that evening when he was to inform them that the ‘C’ team was likely to be cut as well.‘It’s not good," the elder Scanlon said. "We’re probably going to have to send the ‘C’ team home. We’ve tried everything under the sun, but it’s not adding up."The decreasing enrollment is an epidemic across Pop Warner football as mounting pressures from middle school programs, fall leagues in sports such as soccer, ice hockey and lacrosse, and concussion fears are conspiring to drive young players away from the traditional classroom of youth football."We’re not alone," Dick Scanlon said. "From what I’m being told, every program is in trouble. We had a three-way scrimmage with Brookline and Somerville on Sunday and Brookline’s ‘B’ team had only 14 kids. Somerville’s ‘A’ team was lucky if it had 16.’That’s when the director knew he was in trouble with this year’s ‘C’ team as only 11 of 14 players on the team showed up on Sunday. Teams are required to have 16 players in pads to field a squad on opening day."We might be able to move some of them up or down," he said. "If we can, we will."Dick Scanlon said the ‘D’ team is currently in decent shape with 20 players, the ‘B’ team is solid at 19 and that cheerleader registration was great. But even the ‘A’ team could be in jeopardy with 18 players available if everyone shows up and no one gets hurt."You need 16 to play," Dick Scanlon said, "and you can’t go through a season with 16."That is what spurred Ryan Scanlon to scourer the city looking for potential players on Tuesday. He was able to convince three older players to show up at the field for the start of practice with the hope that one night of workouts would get them hooked."I went door to door," he said, "telling parents that anyone who has kids that might be interested in trying football, that they wouldn’t have to pay anything right off the bat. They could just come down, give it a shot, and see if they like it."That’s the thing. Any kid I’ve gotten to come down here and try it for the night – just run around with the other kids and meet some new friends – they’ve always wanted to come back. I’ve never had a kid come down, give it a shot, and not come back. The biggest challenge is getting them here for that first night."Ryan Scanlon said he understands the challenges involved with transporting players to the practices and encouraged families to set up carpools to make it easier. But he is frustrated in that he feels there are plenty of players out there who want to play and, for whatever reason, aren’t signing up for the league."It used to be that if you didn’t get here by the third or fourth day you didn’t get on a roster because we were full," he said. "You could only put 35 kids on a team. We used to have two ‘E’ teams, two ‘D’ teams. Now we can barely fill one."But I walked around Prospect Hill today and there was a huge group of 7- and 8-year-olds saying, ‘I want to play! I want to play!’ It’s just getting them down here. Once we get them down here, and get them having fun, then we can keep them."Dick Scanlon said his biggest worries for the future are that numbers are so thin at the youngest levels. Two years ago, he said, there were two Mighty Mite teams totaling 47 players. This summer, he couldn’t fill half the roster of one."That’s the heart of your program," he said. "That’s where you start – 7- and 8-year-olds. We’re still trying to recruit. We tell them every night: ‘Bring somebody down. Bring somebody down.’ We have until next weekend to sign up players before the weigh-ins."Hopefully it will turn around - next week or next year."(Those interested in playing Waltham Pop Warner football can sign up at Cornelia Warren Field during practices Monday through Thursday at 5:30 p.m. or can contact Dick Scanlon at 81-891-4104 or 617-835-0069.)Scott Souza can be reached at 781-398-8006 or ssouza@wickedlocal.com.

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